Michael McDowell 2014 driver profile

Michael McDowell scored a career-high finish (ninth) in the 2013 Daytona 500. It was a good omen that the Arizona native was moving forward with his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Bob Leavine put him in the Leavine Family Racing car for the non-points Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he finished 14th, which led to his full-time job in the upcoming year. McDowell also started on the pole and finished second to AJ Allmendinger in the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course equaling a career best, set in 2012, at Road America. He drove both races for Joe Gibbs Racing. In fact, when the JGR NASCAR Nationwide Series team needed a pinch hitter they called on McDowell who, in seven races over two years, has only finished lower than seventh place once.

McDowell started the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season driving for Phil Parsons and Mike Curb taking sixth place in his qualifying race at Daytona. His best season overall was in 2011 when he finished 36th driving for Parsons and HP Racing. McDowell joined NASCAR’s premier series in 2008 with Michael Waltrip Racing.

In 2007, at the age of 22 McDowell had success in the ARCA RE/MAX Series finishing second overall as the result of four victories. A versatile driver, McDowell comes from a road-racing background. He twice raced in the now defunct Champ Car World Series (now merged with IndyCar) for Trans-Am ace Paul Gentilozzi in Surfers Paradise Australia and in Mexico City in 2005. That same year, McDowell had a win and a pole in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series (now TUDOR United SportsCar Championship) in Mexico in a Daytona Prototype class BMW in 2005.

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